The Next Move with Mare?

Alain Poupart

03/09/2007

Now that the Dolphins have signed kicker Jay Feely as a free agent, it's pretty obvious that Olindo Mare's days in Miami are done after 10 seasons. The big question is whether the Dolphins will simply release Mare or get something in return in a trade. We explore the possibilities.

Mare was due a $250,000 roster bonus sometime this month and is scheduled to earn $1.5 million in base salary in 2007. It's believed the Dolphins already have paid Mare his bonus, and even if they haven't, that might not be enough to keep the Dolphins from waiting to see if they can get a draft pick for him.

The Dolphins have their first of three minicamps from April 13-15, and it's very difficult to envision the Dolphins wanting to still have Mare on the roster at that time.

So that means the Dolphins have about a month to see about trading Mare, and it looks like there might be a few teams interested in him.

OK, then, who could wind up trading for Mare?

The best way to do this is to look around the league and see which teams have issues with their placekicker.

Washington: The Redskins recently released John Hall, who has been an inconsistent kicker throughout his career, and have an obvious need. Washington, though, already is without draft picks in the second, third and fourth rounds, so giving up another pick might not appeal to the Redskins. Then again, this is the Redskins we're talking about.

Cleveland: The Browns' kicker the last few years has been Phil Dawson, who is merely adequate. But the Browns are a rebuilding team, and it would be surprising to see them relinquish draft picks. This is a team that probably would wait out the Dolphins to see if they release Mare.

New York Giants: The Giants have a need now they lost Feely to the Dolphins. Remember that Mare's career began on the Giants practice squad way back in 1996. This also would be the second straight year the teams swap players at the same position in the offseason -- remember, the Dolphins signed cornerback Will Allen last year before the Giants signed Sam Madison.

Atlanta: The Falcons' kicker last season was Morten Andersen, who is, what, 97 years old? This is a good match.

The truth is the Dolphins might have judged Mare's salary to be too high for his 2006 performance, but we have the feeling that not everybody agrees and feel pretty confident the Dolphins could get something for him.

It probably won't be anything better than a fifth- or sixth-round pick, but getting something for someone who doesn't fit into your plans anyway is pretty good.

Alain Poupart is the Associate Editor of Dolphin Digest and DolphinDigest.com. To read him every day, visit DolphinDigest.com and become a Miami Dolphins insider.